Something
by Jestress
Summary: Kirk is almost always getting hurt on away missions, and the members of his crew can't help but wonder why.
1. Always Something

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the Star Trek universe, Gene Roddenberry's heirs do. I just play here sometimes. I didn't notice any no trespassing signs on the way in, honest! Looks around and sneaks quietly away before anyone notices.

**Explanation:** Kirk is almost always getting hurt on away missions. Dr. McCoy just can't understand it. After his latest antics on a planet where, by all rights, there should be nothing to hurt anyone, the reasons become all too clear. Just a humorous little story about why Kirk is the danger-prone man he is.

Something

"I can't believe you!" McCoy grumbled as he patched up his captain following an away mission. "We just can't take you anywhere!"

Kirk groaned. Many commanding officers wouldn't take such criticism from their men, but McCoy was also his friend. Besides, in this case, the criticism was deserved.

Captain James T. Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise had been accused many times of taking foolish risks on away missions, mostly by his ship's doctor and first officer. Thinking over the events of this particular away mission, Kirk had to admit that the word "foolish" definitely applied. Although he was quick to point out to the doctor that his foolishness had resulted in a very important discovery, the doctor argued that the discovery could have been made with less injury on the part of the captain and less worry on the part of the crew if only he'd been a little more careful.

"You tell him, Spock," McCoy said, turning to the Vulcan first officer, who sat at a nearby desk, turning something over in his hands, examining it from all sides. "He's not safe to be on these away missions! Every time he goes down to a new planet, something happens!"

Spock had to admit that Kirk had an unusual capacity for attracting unusual problems. Spock never liked it when Jim wandered off alone on away missions. He resisted using McCoy's description, "Trouble Magnet," but he had to admit that it seemed as though Jim's capacity for getting himself into dangerous situations was only surpassed by his amazing knack for getting himself out of them again. For a moment, Spock pondered how to respond to McCoy's outburst, but it seemed as though his opinion wasn't really needed.

Without waiting for Spock to say anything, McCoy continued muttering, "A planet with no dangerous animals, no poisonous plants, and no hostile aliens, and you still manage to come back looking like you picked a fight with an Altarian hornbeast and lost!"

Nurse Chapel, who was assisting Dr. McCoy, hesitantly asked what the source of the captain's injuries was. She had not been present on the away mission, but when McCoy and Spock had lead their bruised and bleeding captain into the sick bay, she naturally wanted to know what had happened, even at the possible risk of having the doctor bite her head off in reply.

"Why don't you tell her Jim?" McCoy asked sarcastically. "Tell her all about your amazing discovery."

Sheepishly, Kirk grinned at Nurse Chapel and began to tell the story.

*****

It all started with a peaceful mission to investigate and survey a planet for possible colonization. The planet was uninhabited except for an interesting array of flora and fauna, none of which showed any sign of being hostile toward human habitation. Kirk had seen many worlds before that seemed like paradise (including a few that turned out to be anything but), however none of that dimmed his enjoyment of this particular world. So far, the only bar to colonization that he could see was that the soil did not have the proper mineral content to support Earth-like agriculture. The Enterprise's science department was investigating possible food sources on the planet and the possibility of terraforming certain areas of the planet for farmland.

Kirk had beamed down to the planet's surface with the first away team to direct each survey group to their appropriate positions. Once each team was busy with its task, Kirk felt that he had a little time to explore the area himself. Spock, as usual, was his shadow as he traveled from one team's area to the next. They wandered in a wooded area near the lake where Dr. McCoy was overseeing the team testing the quality of the water.

Although Kirk knew that Spock wouldn't admit it, Spock was clearly enjoying himself. For the last half hour, he had eagerly described several new species of edible ferns that had been discovered on the planet. While Spock stopped to collect plant samples, Kirk admired the scenery. It reminded him of places where he had been camping when he was young.

Spock paused to analyze the berries on a nearby bush, and Kirk wandered a little further, around a small, rocky hill. The rocks were gray and covered with greenish blue lichen. Earlier, Kirk had noticed the tops of similar hills peeking over the tops of the trees in the distance. Near this particular hill was a long ditch. Curiously, Kirk stood beside it and looked down its length.

To his surprise, he saw something at the bottom of the ditch near the place where he was standing. Crouching at the edge of the ditch, he tried to decide if it was what he thought it was. The shape was familiar, but he couldn't be sure because it was covered with dirt. Logically, Spock later pointed out, Kirk should have called Spock over to see it, but Kirk decided to investigate for himself.

Carefully, he studied the sides of the ditch. It was about twice as deep as he was tall. The sides were rocky, and it looked like there were plenty of footholds. Kirk didn't think it would be difficult to climb down.

That was where he made his first mistake. As he lowered himself over the side of the ditch, the rock he had been using as a foothold gave out. In his attempt to catch himself, he reached for another outcropping of rock, lost his grip on the edge of the ditch, and fell. His head struck another rock on the way down, and he landed, senseless, at the bottom of the ditch.


	2. Something Else

"So you got these injuries when you fell in the ditch?" Nurse Chapel asked, eyeing the captain. It explained the large bump on his head and the mild concussion, but if all his scrapes and bruises had come from the fall, there must have been quite a lot of rocks in the ditch.

"Not all of them," Kirk admitted with an embarrassed squirm. "I got some of them later. What I don't understand is why you two had such a difficult time finding me. I wasn't very far away from either of you the entire time." Kirk gave McCoy and Spock a suspicious look.

"Well, you didn't stay put the entire time, did you?" McCoy answered. "Apparently you forgot the old rule that when you're lost, you should stay in one place until someone finds you."

"What about when I was unconscious?" Kirk asked. "I'm surprised you didn't find me then."

"I would have seen you, but unfortunately, I was looking in the wrong direction at the time," Spock explained.

*****

Spock had finished examining the berries and noticed that his captain was no longer with him. Spock's examination hadn't taken very long, so he knew that the captain couldn't be too far ahead.

"Captain?" he called, heading in the direction where he had last seen him. There was no reply, so Spock raised his voice and called again.

He looked through the trees in all directions, but there was no sign of the captain.

"Jim?" he shouted, jogging around the side of the rocky hill, wondering how the captain could have gotten out of earshot in so short a time.

Kirk wasn't there. He was simply nowhere to be seen. Spock attempted to raise the captain on his communicator without success. There was nothing interfering with the communicators. For some reason, Jim either would not or could not answer.

At that moment, Lieutenant Sulu came from around the side of the hill where the ditch was. Since he didn't know that the captain was missing, he had no reason to be searching for him.

"Sir, my team has completed their survey. I have the report for you to sign," Sulu said, offering the report to Spock.

"Have you seen the captain?" Spock asked, quickly signing the report.

"No, sir," Sulu said. "I thought he was with you."

"We became separated," Spock said. "If you see him on your way back to your teammates, let me know."

"Aye, sir," Sulu said, looking a little concerned.

After Sulu left him, Spock raised McCoy without difficulty and asked him if the captain had gone back to the lake. McCoy answered that he hadn't seen the captain since he and Spock had gone into the woods together. The doctor asked if Spock wanted to put together a search party to look for him, but Spock hesitated. He could hear the worry in the doctor's voice, and he knew that others would worry if he announced to them all that the captain was missing. He didn't want the crew to panic. Finally, he told McCoy to stay by the lake and wait for further orders.

After all, Jim really hadn't been gone long, and Spock was still sure that he couldn't have gone far. He decided to make one more search of the area himself. The most logical way to proceed seemed to be to climb to the top of the hill and use it to get a better view of the area. The captain was wearing yellow, which would be an easy color to spot among the green trees. Spock immediately began his climb up the rocky surface of the hill, meanwhile missing significant developments on the other side.

*****

"Bones will hate me for this . . . Bones? Oh, yes, bones. I hope I didn't break any."

Such were the confused thoughts of Jim Kirk upon waking at the bottom of the ditch. He had only been knocked unconscious for a few minutes, but his head throbbed terribly. Later, he would be embarrassed that he could have given himself a concussion by falling such a short distance, but as Spock pointed out, it wasn't just a matter of height but also the way he fell and what he'd landed on that caused the injury. Kirk still felt embarrassed, but he had to admit that if he hadn't been so dazed, things wouldn't have turned out the way they did.

Kirk decided that he hadn't broken any bones and that his head was where all the pain was. Slowly, he pulled himself into a sitting position and held his head in his hands until he felt less dizzy. When he raised his head and looked around, he saw . . . something . . . next to his right foot. Gently, he pulled it up from where it had lain partially buried and looked at it. He brushed some of the dirt off, and the shape became more recognizable. Kirk's mind was still too muddled to put a name to the thing that he'd found, but he knew what it was and that finding it was significant. He knew that he had to show it to someone.

Spock! Of course, he'd been with Spock! Spock must be worried about him, wondering where he was. Kirk's mind cleared a little, and he realized that Spock must still be nearby, probably looking for him. Slowly, he stumbled to his feet, swayed slightly, then began walking down the ditch, looking for a place where he could more easily climb up. The thing that he'd found was fragile, and he didn't want to break it getting out of the ditch.

*****

From Spock's vantage point at the top of the hill, he could see all the survey teams working around him. There were several people wearing yellow, but none of them was the captain. Over by the lake, Spock saw McCoy pacing back and forth, no doubt worrying and waiting for word from Spock.

Reluctantly, Spock decided that he had better begin assembling a search party. Before he could contact the others, however, he noticed something peculiar about the hill he was on. Something about the shape made it look as though it were man-made, not natural. The rocks on the hill were unusual as well. There were other hills nearby covered in the same type of rocks, a common variety in this area. However, there was something unusual about their shape. Although they were not made into bricks, there were signs of chiseling on the stones.

"Strange that no one has noticed this," Spock thought, picking up a couple of the rocks and noticing how neatly their irregular sides fit together. He put the two rocks into his specimen bag for further study. There were others things that required more immediate attention. Spock turned his attention to getting back down the hill and assembling a search party for their missing captain.

*****

Kirk finally found a convenient place to pull himself out the ditch. Still clutching the thing that he'd found, he looked around to orient himself. He was standing at the base of one of the hills, but he wasn't sure which hill exactly. He'd come too far down the ditch for it to be the same hill he'd been near before.

As Kirk looked back at the ditch, he noticed that it curved instead of going straight. Now, he wasn't exactly sure which direction he was facing. He looked up at the sun. Was it still morning or was it now afternoon? He didn't know.

One thing he did manage to figure out was that he had climbed up on the wrong side of the ditch. Thinking back, he realized that, relative to the direction he'd been heading, he had gone into the ditch from the right side and climbed back out on the left. Kirk groaned. Spock and the others were on the other side of the ditch. Kirk looked at the ditch thoughtfully. There was no way that he wanted to go back in after he'd worked so hard to get out. Somehow, he would find another way to get back to the others.

It occurred to him to wonder just how far the ditch went. Reasonably, it would have to end somewhere. At the point were he fell in, it looked like the other end headed back toward the lake. The lake was were the others were. Either he would find a place were he could walk around the ditch, or he would see the others on the way.


	3. Something Explained

"Why didn't you just wait for us to come find you?" McCoy grumbled. "You were lost and hurt, and you shouldn't have just gone wandering around on your own."

"I guess I just wasn't thinking straight," Kirk said. "I just remember feeling like I had to do something instead of just standing around."

"That may be what gets you into trouble," McCoy said dryly.

"Well, what were you doing all the time I was 'wandering around'?" Kirk asked.

"We were trying to do something to find you," Spock said.

*****

Spock ended up assembling two search teams from the science teams that had already finished their work. One team, led by McCoy, would search the area east of the lake. The other, led by Spock, would search the area to the west, the area where he had last seen Captain Kirk. Both teams would meet back at the lake in an hour, even if they hadn't found the captain.

The Enterprise's sensors had located the signal from the captain's communicator not far from where Spock had last seen him. It was at the bottom of a ditch, and there was no sign of the captain nearby. Spock did note that there were signs of someone digging a small hole in the dirt, and it appeared that some rocks had been disturbed. Why the captain would have wanted to dig in the bottom of the ditch was a mystery.

The survey teams had taken note of the ditches on both sides of the lake. They occurred at fairly regular intervals and appeared to have once had running water in them, although they were all dry now. All of them appeared to end at or near the lake. Some of the science teams had speculated about whether they could have been dug by some previous civilization inhabiting the planet, but so far, there were no signs of other man-made structures. Spock considered the rocks he had found, but decided that further investigation could wait until the captain was found.

At Spock's order, his search team began their investigation with the ditch where the captain's communicator was found. They would follow it for its entire length to see if there were further signs of the captain.

*****

Meanwhile, Kirk sat down to rest at the bottom of a nearby hill. His head still hurt, and he felt a little dizzy. He knew that he probably had a concussion. There wasn't much he could do about that until he found Bones, but he thought if he just sat down for a moment, his head might clear enough for him to go on.

Kirk sat down on a rock and looked around, holding the object he had found in his lap. These hills were strange. So uniform in size. He hadn't noticed before. What had the survey teams learned about them in his absence?

Then, something about the hill he was sitting near caught his eye. One side of it had partially collapsed, leaving a dark gap.

"Is this hollow?" he wondered.

Getting up, he stumbled over to the gap in the hillside. It was really too dark to see inside, but he had the sense that the cavity was much larger than the opening. With his mind still in a fog, the captain made his second mistake. He crept just a little farther into the opening to see if he could discern what was inside. The next thing he knew, he was tumbling down a flight of stairs into the darkness below. His find flew out of his hands and clattered across the floor.

After Kirk had landed at the bottom of the steps, new scrapes and bruises added to his already existing injuries, he began to grope around for the object he had dropped. It was too important a find for him to lose. Bracing himself against a wall, he pulled himself to his feet, and was astonished when a light came on. He blinked, glancing up at the light panel on the ceiling. Perhaps it was motion-activated. Even if he hadn't found the remains of one of the planet's previous inhabitants, there was no doubt now that a civilization had once lived here.

Stooping, he picked up the ancient skull that he had found earlier at the bottom of the ditch. Thankfully, it was not as brittle as he had feared, and it was not badly damaged by the fall. Kirk took a seat in a chair near some sort of control panel.

Part of the panel was lit. It had probably been turned on automatically, along with the overhead light. Kirk couldn't read the language which covered the panel, but there was something strange. In the center the panel was a depression, about the same size as the skull he had found. Curious, he placed the skull into the depression to see what would happen.

From somewhere, there was a whirring sound, followed by a loud grinding noise. Kirk stood up and climbed the stairs to see what was happening outside.

*****

As Spock's search party walked along the ditch, they heard a rumbling sound.

"What is that, sir?" Sulu asked.

The rumbling changed to a rushing sound, coming from somewhere directly ahead of them.

"It sounds like water, Lieutenant" Spock said, rising an eyebrow.

They all looked expectantly in the direction of the sound. Within seconds, water flowed toward them, filling up the ditch, heading toward the lake.

"Where did that come from?" Sulu asked.

Before Spock could begin to speculate, someone approached them from the direction of the nearest hill.

"Spock!" Captain Kirk called, waving at him. "There's something you need to see!"

*****

"So that's how the captain was injured?" Nurse Chapel asked. "I don't understand why the ship's sensors didn't pick up signs of this civilization. They can detect machinery, can't they?"

"The composition of the stones that made up the buildings hid the machinery from our sensors," Spock said, setting down the skull that he had been examining. "The hill-like mounds that covered the structures underneath masked the signatures of the machinery and its power source. The beings that previously inhabited this planet were very adept at using the materials that they had immediately available to them, so the entire complex of structures seemed to be made up of the same elements that surrounded them, and the thickness of the mounds prevented us from detecting anything further underneath."

"Well, it was a worthwhile discovery," Kirk said. "It seems that there are mineral deposits below the surface of the planet. The people who once lived there developed a system to siphon water from underground to the surface to irrigate their crops and supply them with minerals. They even had a pumping system under the lake to recycle the water that drained off. Our colonists could get the system running again and use it for their own crops."

"But all that would have been discovered by our science teams in time anyway," McCoy fumed. "In fact, it might have taken less time if they hadn't had to go looking for you! Why do these things always happen to you? Every time you go on an away mission, something happens!"

"Logically, Doctor, 'something' always happens when someone takes some form of action," Spock pointed out, "and it is usually our captain who is the first to take action."

"Speaking of which, it's time we get back to work," Kirk said. "If I'm free to go, Doctor?"

Jim's wounds were healed, so McCoy nodded, and Jim left sick bay for the bridge.

"That doesn't make it any less frightening, Spock," McCoy said, turning to the first officer.

"On that, Doctor, I would have to agree," Spock said before he headed for the bridge himself.

The End


End file.
